Thoughts Find Words
by vapiddreamscape
Summary: Robert Frost said, "Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words." The thoughts and emotions of various characters find their words in this poetry collection. Various eras, pairings, and genres.
1. Trevor Knows

.A/N: First poem for the Poetry Boot Camp, prompt #012: toad. Neville's love life from the point of view of his toad. To avoid confusion, Trevor's Person is Neville, the New One is Hannah Abbot and the Other One is Luna Lovegood.

* * *

**Trevor Knows**

People don't often think of the toad.

.

They don't realize

how much he sees.

Which would be

everything. (To an extent,

of course. You can't expect him

to be in two places at once.)

.

Due to his days

hopping 'round Hogwarts' halls,

and his life now,

hopping 'round his Person's home

he probably knows more about people

than most People do.

.

That's why Trevor can tell

his Person doesn't like the New One

he's been with lately.

The one

with the rosy cheeks

and blonde hair in pigtails

and a shiny ring on one finger.

.

Well, at least not as much

as he likes the Other One.

The Person with

long hair that shines brighter than the ring

and funny things dangling off her ears

and big eyes that seem to see the whole world.

(Even the toads.)

.

Both Trevor _and _his Person like this one better.

.

He watched their relationship

grow at Hogwarts.

Even when they thought they were alone,

Trevor was there.

Watching.

Hoping.

Waiting for something to happen

between the two People he loved.

And they were so close.

.

But darkness fell,

and the Other One left,

and lots of People fell down

and never got back up

and the People that didn't fall down

leaked so much water

that it was wetter than a marsh.

.

Eventually, Trevor's

Watching

Hoping

Waiting game

ended,

and they left Hogwarts' now hallowed ground.

.

His Person met the New One

who doesn't see Trevor like the Other One did.

But this New One

makes his person laugh

and smile,

which is a good thing.

Trevor knows that.

.

But the New One doesn't make his eyes light up.

She doesn't make him sing to his plants

when he thinks no one can hear

or dance when it's quiet

and his laugh seems fake

and his smiles don't quite

reach all the way to his eyes

which is not a good thing.

Trevor knows that.

These only happen

when the Other One's around.

.

And,

although he doesn't know it,

his Person makes the Other One

light up too.

.

During the days in Hogwarts

before the light went out

and the Other One left,

she would hum quietly

and spin around like a ballerina

and laugh her jingle bell laugh

whenever they talked.

.

When his Person said good-bye,

the Other One

would look dreamily at nothing

as if she could see her whole happy future

in the stone and mortar walls.

Which is a good thing.

Trevor knows that.

.

But now,

the Other One just seems sad.

Not a good thing.

Trevor knows that.

.

If Trevor could speak People

or if his Person could speak Toad,

Trevor would tell him this

and more.

Maybe things would be different.

Because Trevor knows more

than his warty façade lets on.

No one can ever guess

at vast wealth of knowledge

he has inside.

Trevor knows that.

.

It's too bad no one ever thinks of the toad.


	2. Flowers and Starlight

A/N: Prompt #043: flower. The story of Narcissa Malfoy starting before the book begins and ending after the final battle. Spoilers for Deathly Hallows.

* * *

**Flowers and Starlight**

All your life,

you've been a fragile little flower

_(narcissa)_

surrounded by stars and constellations

_(regulus, sirius, bellatrix, andromeda)_

burning hot and bright and fast

before they explode into

supernovas

quasars

black holes

Stars that quickly burn through

all the life they've been allotted

before collapsing in on themselves.

_(sound like anyone we know?)_

Stars which take their time

let their lives last long

before burning out entirely.

Many a time,

you are jealous of them

older sisters and little cousins.

They get to live in the sky

amongst constellations and galaxies

while you are rooted to the Earth

dirt and bugs and animals.

They can pick

out their names in clouds.

Untouchable.

You are your mother's

precious flower, to be

primped, poked, and prodded.

Yeah, you're jealous.

Before the collapse,

that is.

Though some would argue

Andromeda is the first to burn out,

you know it is Bellatrix,

the eldest sister Black.

Already beginning to burn out,

she is drawn in by the Dark Lord,

his web of lies.

As soon as she gets that Dark Mark,

Bella's star collapses.

She becomes a black hole

sucking in all who made the mistake

of crossing her event horizon.

_(andromeda was lucky._

_ she broke her chains_

_when she had the chance.)_

Regulus is the first

to be sucked in.

Light snuffed too soon.

The little king loses his crown.

No longer inherits anything,

except a place at the Devil's table.

_ (did he save a seat for Bella?)_

You are no longer jealous of the stars.

Little flowers

rooted in the earth

can't possibly be sucked

by big black holes up in space.

But Bella is Bella

and somehow

you are drawn in.

A little flower in

the blackness of the universe.

You are able to forget

the difference between

flowers and stars.

They don't matter in a place

where pain and death and destruction

are the norms.

So, when your son is born

he is named after a star.

You realize your mistake,

but it's too late.

Your little Draco is already

explosive,

volatile,

ready to leave you

Turn into the black hole.

You know that you should have named him

after a damned flower.

Who cares about tormenters?

Flowers are

beautiful

delicate

always come back after the snow.

_(unless yanked by the roots)_

Stars leave you behind.

_(andromeda, sirius, regulus)_

You seal yourself in

with a wall of ice and mortar.

It isn't hard.

Maybe your parents were right

in their naming of you.

Since Andromeda left,

numbness has been how you deal

with life's curveballs.

When you hear about

Sirius' death

two thoughts

simultaneously spring through

the wall.

_(I knew he'd burn out.)_

and

_(The final brother Black_

_sucked into Bella's black hole._

_There goes another star.)_

The years soldier on.

They get darker

_(flowers can't live without light._

_stars, however, thrive)_

It's time to decide

where loyalties lie.

Looking down,

the moment of truth.

You will no longer be sucked in.

"He is dead."

And you are free.

Years later,

while reading a book

on Muggle horticulture

for your flower garden,

_(times have indeed changed)_

you stumble across it.

Andromeda- Pieris japonica:

an evergreen shrub

of the heath family,

typically with small bell-like

flowers.

You nearly drop the book.

She too,

the middle sister long forgotten

is a flower among stars.

_(well, a shrub_

_but that's semantics)_

It is then you decide

it's time to mend fences.

_(are you too late?)_

When you reach her door

you remember

and laugh at yourself for coming.

She's lost everything

_(son-in-law, cousin, sister, husband, daughter)_

to the Black hole,

more than you, and it's

all

your

fault.

You almost turn around,

but you've come this far.

Another flower is truly breaking free.

Ring the bell.

Hear it echo.

Footsteps.

A turquoise haired boy answers

and calls for her before scurrying away.

_(the grandson._

_teddy, right?)_

She appears, taking you by surprise.

Time and grief have sanded her face

into some strange

yet frighteningly familiar.

"Narcissa?"

"Andromeda."

She's and odd mix

of you and Bellatrix

you decide.

Maybe that's what it takes

to break the Black family chains

and live to see the new dawn.

_(__who needs toujours pur?)_

Not just the fragile flower _(narcissa)_

or the blazing stars _(bellatrix, regulus, sirius)_

You need both,

at an equilibrium.

"I know it's not much,

not at all,

especially after all this time,

but it has to be said.

I'm sorry.

For everything."

Her face is granite.

"You're right.

It's not much."

_(what did you expect?)_

However, her countenance softens

with a glance at your guilt-ridden face.

"But it's a start."

The remaining sisters Black,

separated by years and wars and bloodshed,

begin to come together again

at an equilibrium,

the happy medium of stars and flowers

only found in Andromeda.


	3. High Stakes

Prompt #037: smart. Rose Weasley/Scorpius Malfoy

* * *

**High Stakes**

People always say

"She's just like her mother,

smartest witch of her age."

or

"She's too smart

for her own good."

or

"What a bitch.

She's such a know-it-all."

.

She used to

embrace her titles with pride.

She studied for fun

instead of going to Hogsmeade

with friends,

probably because she doesn't

have that many.

.

She did all her assignments

at least two weeks in advance,

gets O's on all for them.

She's at the top

of her Ravenclaw class,

just ahead of Scorpius Malfoy.

Top

of her whole year

.

She got eleven O's on her O.W.L.S

more than her mother

and aspires to discover

something that will shake the Wizarding World

to its very core. To take her out

from under the shadow

of her war-hero parents.

.

Yes, Rose Weasley is smart.

But now,

she's sick of it.

.

Seven years she's waited

Textbooks and quills and parchment

filling her days

to please parents, relatives, teachers.

For everyone but her.

.

It's time for Rose

to do something for Rose.

And that something

is Scorpius Malfoy

.

They've been friends

since day one,

the product

of attempted childhood rebellion.

But Rose was

too smart

too practical

to admit her feelings

for her best friend.

Because she wants

to break away from her parents.

She doesn't want to lose them entirely.

.

His is the same story

with different characters

a slightly skewed plot.

.

Denial, denial, denial.

For seven years,

stuck in denial.

Not just a river in Egypt after all.

.

Now, they can deny no longer.

.

Quick glances across a classroom

Stolen kiss behind a tapestry

Holding hands under the Ravenclaw table

It's nice,

amazing in fact.

But she doesn't want

to keep it a secret any longer.

She wants to yell

from the mountaintops.

_"I love Scorpius Malfoy!"_

.

Chances are they won't work.

Star-crossed lovers never do.

Pulled apart by

family

blood feuds

traditions

hatred.

Their parents were reluctant

to let them be friends.

Love?

Out of the question.

They'll be disowned if they try

to start a life together

.

The chances they work out

are infinitesimal.

But the time has passed

for probability and statistics.

She's going to gamble everything

in this high-stakes poker game.

Screw the consequences.

.

It's time for Rose Weasley

to do something dumb.


	4. Play Away the Heartache

Prompt #024: piano. Originally written with Andromeda Tonks in mind, but could apply to nearly anyone.

* * *

**Play Away the Heartache**

The piano sits in the corner

untouched.

88 keys locked behind a door

untouched.

Dust covering the once sleek veneer

untouched.

The memories hidden in a corner of the mind

untouched

for fear overuse

would wear them to tatters.

.

Despite the tarnish of decades

memories are there,

woven with music forgotten.

Music it's time to return to.

.

Perhaps the piano is like

riding bike.

Even years later

the ability comes back

after that first pedal push.

.

Maybe it will be the same.

Plunk one key,

notes and rests

fortes and pianos

crescendos and decrescendos

legatos and staccatos

andantes and allegros,

will flood back.

Proving lessons and practice,

forced by "well-meaning" parents

were worth it.

Remembering will be okay.

.

And, if it works,

the piano can play away the pain

of wars and Death,

of needless bloodshed

and lives cut short.

Create something beautiful from travesty.

Music lost upon death.

.

On the piano,

black and white was so clear cut.

No in-between

those damned shades of gray.

No earning trust

to later betray.

No one acting like the enemy

only to prove goodness at the bitter end.

It's not always easy

to go back to the clean cut world

of the piano.

With only,

black and white

sharp, flat, and natural.

.

Play away the heartache

held on for so long.

Play away the heartache

with only a song.

.

Maybe, the piano all in those memories

untouched for so long.

All that's left to do is

Sit in the corner

Dust the veneer

Unlock the keys and

Sit before them

88 blocks,

of black and white glory.

.

Choose one,

doesn't matter which,

and press it.

_See if the music returns._


	5. Luster

**Prompt #049: wonder. **Luna-centric with Luna/Neville at the end. Inspired by the idea that Luna comes to see the truth about her fatherand realizes some of the creatures she's been told about aren't real, with a twist.

* * *

**Luster**

Her parents taught her

that the world was magical

(in more than the usual way).

.

They told her

about a world full of wonder

if you believed hard enough.

Nargles

Crumpled-Horned Snorkacks

Wrackspurts

and a flotilla of other amazing creatures.

.

The world was coated in wonder

when her parents painted pictures

of countless creations

not found in Care of Magical Creatures textbook.

.

And the world was lustrous.

.

Then, her mother died,

and there was nothing Luna could do,

no creature she could call on

to bring her back.

.

Her father retreated into himself,

the Quibbler the center of his world.

The stories were far and few between.

Luna had to find her own

in back issues of the Quibbler

and her parents' old journals.

.

Even though her father

_(and the creatures)_

came back in due time,

the world lost a bit of its luster.

.

And when she came to school

those beliefs were all she had

because friendship was nonexistent

for those first few years.

.

When those friends finally came

darkness and war trailed behind

a silent wraith hell-bent on destroying them all.

.

Hope and faith and stories became so very important

while her grasp on such things grew tenuous.

But when she gripped too tightly,

they slipped like sand through the cracks in her fingers.

And despite her façade,

she began to lose sight of the wonder.

.

Late one night in a moment of weakness,

when she was frightened they'd be gone forever,

Luna told Neville,

"I'm scared I'm going to lose her-them-entirely."

He just smiled,

and pulled her into a crushing embrace.

"I won't let you.

Tell me about them."

.

A week later,

Luna was kidnapped.

There, in the darkness of her dungeon,

the world grew duller still.

.

The battle ended.

Bodies were buried.

Memorials held.

Life attempted to go on.

.

A year later,

Luna completed her final year,

one of few to return to a half-finished castle.

On her final day of Hogwarts

her father told her,

that he could no longer stand feeding her lies.

.

Some of the creatures she believed in

the ones he shared with her,

we're not,

in fact,

real.

.

When she realized this was no joke,

she ran.

Ran away from her lying father

and the ghosts of her beliefs.

She ran to Neville

and sobbed into this robes.

When the tears stopped

she told him in a broken voice,

about the twist in her life.

"I feel like I've lost everything."

He hold her close,

as he shook his head.

"Now, that's not true.

You've got your friends.

And, you've got me."

.

Still, her world was lack-luster and wonderless.

.

Seven years later,

An exhausted Luna looked down

at the sleeping bundle in her arms.

"She's perfect," Luna said

turning to her husband.

"Yes, she is."

Neville smiles as he looks down

upon at his sleeping daughter.

The baby,

warm in Luna's arms,

snuggled unconsciously closer.

.

Miranda Alice Longbottom,

named after both their mothers,

did not yet know

death or heartache.

She only knew

love, warmth, and her mother's embrace.

Her parents would try their hardest

to keep that way.

.

They would make her world wonderful

without breaking her heart in the process.

They would her believe in more than the usual magic

without building her foundations on fantasy.

Yes, that is what Neville and Luna will do.

.

Looking down at her sleeping daughter,

and over at her loving husband,

Luna realized she had everything she wanted.

.

Creatures, real or make-believe they may be

were no longer her world.

.

This was.

.

And the world was wonderful and lustrous again.

* * *

_Reviews are greatly appreciated._


End file.
